Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Summer Game Fest
  • New games for 2025
  • Upcoming Switch 2 games
  • Switch 2 stock
Recommended reading
Death Stranding 2
Action Games I'm glad the heatwave is over, because if it wasn't I'd think I hallucinated these weird Death Stranding 2 moments, from dancing dolls to sci-fi directors fighting while making pizza
Screenshot from felt that boxing showing a puppet squaring up to a bigger puppet
Fighting Games Geoff Keighley can't help himself, pours gasoline on the memes as he unveils a real-time boxing game starring puppets: "You guys all know I love my puppets"
Michi, Pinky, and the rest of the Promise Mascot Agency standing in front of Kaso-Machi in key art for the game
Simulation Games There are dozens of us: Paradise Killer's new open-world management sim aimed straight at Yakuza sickos is off to a great start on Steam with 98% positive reviews
Mixtape appearing in FGS Live from LA
Games Mixtape sent a sherpa up a mountain to get the rights to use a song, and Grand Theft Auto has "nothing on our toilet paper tech"
Death Stranding 2
Open World Games I'm enjoying Death Stranding 2, but I wish Hideo Kojima would stop teasing me with cool powers I'll never have
Snake stands next to a giant ape mech in the Mesal Gear Solid crossover between Metal Gear Solid 3 and Ape Escape
Stealth Games "My first line was 'Snake Vs Monkey'", says Metal Gear Solid 3's David Hayter: "I could only ask, 'Why am I saying this?'"
Actors in Balls do jazz hands over a sign that says "balls"
RPGs The unauthorized Pokemon musical titled "Balls: The Monster Catchin' Musical" made me question everything about life and Nintendo copyright
  1. Games
  2. Strategy

The 9 weirdest video game uses of perfectly sensible licenses

Features
By David Houghton published 12 March 2013

FIST OF THE NORTH STAR: SNOWBOARD CHALLENGE!

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Derivers' license

Derivers' license

Some licensed games use weird licenses. Things like confectionary brands and flopped cartoon movies based on dead stand-up comedians. The fact that anyone finds these rights worth paying for with actual money is boggling. But that's not what we're talking about here.

What we're talking about here is games that take a perfectly acceptable, totally game-plausible license and then use it to create the last game anyone would have expected. Some created great, fresh, surprising adaptations. Some turned out about as right as clown at a cocktail party. Click on and discover their belligerent oddness.

Page 1 of 11
Page 1 of 11
Judge Dredd: Countdown Sector 106 - iOS

Judge Dredd: Countdown Sector 106 - iOS

You'd have expected the Judge Dredd license to be used for: A gritty, brutally violent, darkly funny action game following Dredd's uncompromising bid to clean up the streets of Mega City One. Something between Arkham City, Gears of War and Mass Effect.

What they actually made was: A gritty, brutally violent, darkly funny text adventure and dice-rolling game, with uncompromising prose descriptions of Dredds uncompromising cleaning up of those there streets. The Fighting Fantasy gamebook of bone-cracking futuristic justice, basically.

Page 2 of 11
Page 2 of 11
Gotham City Imposters Multi

Gotham City Imposters Multi

You'd have expected the Batman license to be used for:A game with Batman in it.

What they actually made was: A cartoony online-only shooter with rival outlaw gangs as its protagonists, one aligned with Bat-worship, the other a haven of Joker-fetishism. There's a vague allusion there to the plot of The Dark Knight Returns there, but its vague like the smell of the shadow of fog. License and game are very tenuously shoe-horned together into a concept that makes very little in-universe sense. Mianly given that Batman would have hospitalised everyone involved within five minutes of finding out about the nonsense they were propagating.

Page 3 of 11
Page 3 of 11
The Real Ghostbusters/Mickey Mouse IV/Garfield Game Boy

The Real Ghostbusters/Mickey Mouse IV/Garfield Game Boy

You'd have expected the Ghostbusters, Mickey Mouse and Garfield licenses to be used for: Three different games.

What they actually made was: The same game, released in three (barely) different versions in three different territories with a different main character sprite in each. With the Mickey version being the Japanese original, both Garfield and Peter Venkman were bent to the mouse's will like melting plastic spoons in the hands of a drooling pyromaniac. Mickey's block-busting hammer became Peter's proton gun, capable of breaking the blocks beneath his feet but utterly ineffective against the game's various ghosts. Instead, Peter had to use bombs to deal with paranormal threats. Just like in the movies. Garfield probably used a sarcasm drill and blew up ghosts with explosive lasagne, or something.

Page 4 of 11
Page 4 of 11
Shrek n Roll XBLA

Shrek n Roll XBLA

You'd have expected the Shrek license to be used for: Some manner of platformer, or at adventure game at a push. Essentially something that allowed kiddie-wink Shrek fans a real sense of inhabiting and exploring the bright, breezy, (debatably) hilarious cinematic fantasy world they know and love

What they actually made was: A physics-based 2D puzzle game, in which the player has to tilt a bar in order to roll a Shrek-themed ball back and forth to avoid hazards while ascending a tower. Just like in the movies!

Page 5 of 11
Page 5 of 11
Akira Psycho Ball PS2

Akira Psycho Ball PS2

You'd have expected the Akira license to be used for: An epic apocalyptic action-adventure game, utilising cutting edge cell shading to evoke Katsuhiro Otomos iconic dramatic vision in startlingly affecting style. With lots and lots of biking bits, and an ending that lets you fire the satellite laser.

What they actually made was: A pinball game. It had four themed stages and when you did well it played a bit of footage from the film. Just like at the end of the movie. Sorry.

Oh actually no. What happened at the end of the movie was that Tetsuo exploded into a huge fleshy mass of pain and fury, wasn't it? That is not much like pinball.

Page 6 of 11
Page 6 of 11
Revolution X Arcade, 16/32-bit consoles

Revolution X Arcade, 16/32-bit consoles

You'd have expected the Aerosmith license to be used for: Nothing really, until the advent of rhythm action games four years later. Because bands are not a good fit for licensed games that dont come with giant plastic instruments. Just ask Frankie Goes to Hollywood. There would not be another Aerosmith-themed video game until Guitar Hero got involved in 2008, for exactly that reason.

What they actually made was: A side-scrolling Operation Wolf-style light gun game in which the player shot the living crap out of hordes of authoritarian types in the name of rock. While certainly not confirming several uncomfortable stereotypes simultaneously.

Page 7 of 11
Page 7 of 11
South Park N64

South Park N64

You'd have expected the South Park license to be used for: Some kind of anarchic, character-driven platform adventure. Conkers Bad Fur Day with less operatic faecal matter (singing poo would come later for South Park) but a considerable increase in the occurrences of anal probing.

What they actually made was: An FPS. In which hilarious comedy weapons ensure that the laughs fly as thick and fast as the bullets. As a PR man would no doubt say. If he took no pride in telling the truth. And was basically an awful human being. Even more bizarrely, the South Park FPS used the Turok 2 engine, but managed to render a deliberately simplistic linear suburban street less convincingly than the N64 pulled off a lush dinosaur-filled jungle. The excessive fog effects made it feel more like Silent Hill than a cartoon Colorado, making the otherwise crap turkey enemies far more disturbing than they had any right to be.

Page 8 of 11
Page 8 of 11
Angry Birds Star Wars iOS, Android, PC

Angry Birds Star Wars iOS, Android, PC

You'd have expected the Star Wars license to be used for: Anything but Angry Birds. The Star Wars universe has eclectic video game potential exploding out of its every thermal exhaust port. Space shooters. FPS. Tactical shooters. Platformers. Even racing games. Theyre all justifiable within the Star Wars canon. They all make total sense.

What they actually made was: A game about throwing birds at AT-ATs. Apparently thats an effective way of taking them down. Despite the avian predisposition for flying away from wintry conditions having made them searingly useless during the battle of Hoth. This game also lead to the physical, video-less tabletop game Angry Birds Star Wars Jenga, surely the first game in all of history to have been developed entirely through the use of SEO.

Page 9 of 11
Page 9 of 11
Back to the Future NES

Back to the Future NES

You'd have expected the Back to the Future license to be used for: Some manner of exciting time-travelling platforming action. Maybe even with a few adventury time-manipulation bits thrown in if the hardware of the time allowed. And definitely a few token driving bits of course. Because, you know, DeLoreans.

What they actually made was: A game that understood what Back to the Future is really about. A game that knows that all of that warm, light-hearted, witty adventure and smart, character driven comedy is just subtext. A game that understands that Back to the Future is really, fundamentally, underneath all of that surface fluff, a film about a teenage boy walking along a seemingly endless street while avoiding lethal hula-hoopers. Not the devs fault if you only made the obvious surface interpretation of Zemeckis master-work.

Page 10 of 11
Page 10 of 11
More madaptations?

More madaptations?

So that's our list of the oddest treatments of perfectly sensible game-ready IPs. But did we miss any? Have you ever played a licensed game even more off-kilter with its original inspiration? Have you happened across a Dance Dance Revolution: Rambo Edition arcade cabinet? Or maybe you own one of the few surviving copies of War Torture Simulator with The Spice Girls? Let us know.

And while you're here, why not check out some of our similar features, like The most heavily-delayed movie licenses ever made, or maybe 10 LEGO games wed love to see? Just ignore the first entry in that latter article and pretend there's a 9 in the headline rather than a 10. You'll see what we mean when you get there.

Page 11 of 11
Page 11 of 11
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming Wii-u PlayStation PS4 Xbox Xbox One Platforms Nintendo
PRODUCTS
Angry Birds Star Wars Gotham City Impostors South Park
David Houghton
David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.
See more PC Gaming Features
Read more
Death Stranding 2
I'm glad the heatwave is over, because if it wasn't I'd think I hallucinated these weird Death Stranding 2 moments, from dancing dolls to sci-fi directors fighting while making pizza
Screenshot from felt that boxing showing a puppet squaring up to a bigger puppet
Geoff Keighley can't help himself, pours gasoline on the memes as he unveils a real-time boxing game starring puppets: "You guys all know I love my puppets"
Michi, Pinky, and the rest of the Promise Mascot Agency standing in front of Kaso-Machi in key art for the game
There are dozens of us: Paradise Killer's new open-world management sim aimed straight at Yakuza sickos is off to a great start on Steam with 98% positive reviews
Mixtape appearing in FGS Live from LA
Mixtape sent a sherpa up a mountain to get the rights to use a song, and Grand Theft Auto has "nothing on our toilet paper tech"
Death Stranding 2
I'm enjoying Death Stranding 2, but I wish Hideo Kojima would stop teasing me with cool powers I'll never have
Snake stands next to a giant ape mech in the Mesal Gear Solid crossover between Metal Gear Solid 3 and Ape Escape
"My first line was 'Snake Vs Monkey'", says Metal Gear Solid 3's David Hayter: "I could only ask, 'Why am I saying this?'"
Latest in Strategy
Heroes of Might and Magic
Strategy game expert behind Manor Lords partners with Ubisoft for Heroes of Might and Magic prequel with 600,000 Steam wishlists
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
After 2 underrated tactical RPGs on Switch, Mario + Rabbids developer Ubisoft Milan's pitch for another game was apparently turned down, which may explain why it's now working on Rayman
Pikmin 3 Deluxe
Switch 2 broke Pikmin 3 Deluxe with visual glitches and crashes, but Nintendo has swiftly patched it up so you can enjoy the Wii U banger once more
Pikmin 3 Deluxe
No Pikmin games got Switch 2 upgrades, and fans say Pikmin 3 Deluxe is "borderline broken" thanks to crashes, bizarre visual bugs, and screen flickering
a knight in a helmet with iron crosses decorating the cheeks
New strategy game Chronicles Medieval has you fight third-person battles with Tom Hardy narrating in a surprisingly normal accent for once
Lords Mobile x Pacific Rim
Lords Mobile launches Pacific Rim collaboration and celebrates 19th anniversary of developer IGG
Latest in Features
Alexej Manvelov as Akram Salim in Dept. Q
I’ve seen countless crime dramas, but Netflix’s Dept. Q and Poker Face season 2 are rewriting the sidekick archetype for the better
Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw as Sofia and Rose in Hot Milk
Sun, sea, and strained relationships: Andor's Fiona Shaw and Barbie's Emma Mackey play a mother and daughter on the brink in new drama Hot Milk
Two menacing gingerbread men look intimidating while a candy person waves from a cage
I didn't expect to like the latest D&D book, but after an utterly stupid adventure I'm all in on Dragon Delves
Mion and Rena look uneasy in the classroom in Higurashi: When They Cry
The Silent Hill f writer's debut game was basically the original Doki Doki Literature Club, and it's still terrifying me 23 years later
Promotional image showing the Everdark Sovereign version of Gaping Jaw in Elden Ring Nightreign.
If Elden Ring Nightreign wants to keep me around to buy DLC, it needs to lean into Dark Souls so much more
Quantum Witch screenshots
This stunning 2D "plotformer" is the ultimate cottagecore fantasy with an extra dose of mystery, sapphic witches, and a giant lady who fights you
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. A T-rex in Jurassic World Rebirth
    1
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  2. 2
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  3. 3
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  4. 4
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  5. 5
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...